Tuscarora’s Musical Theater Ensemble (MTE) class performed a musical, “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” on Jan. 31, Feb. 1, and Feb. 2. The production features six kids who compete in their regional spelling bee, but only one advances to nationals.
Tuscarora’s production of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” took a unique spin on this fun-filled musical. While the original production only featured six spellers, the show included an ensemble and added a variety of choreography to make the musical their own.
“I liked being in the ensemble because I had time to create a character and utilize all my little cameo moments to make the audience laugh,” shared ensemble member Sydney Nicklas. Actors could make their lines and utilize physical comedy, subtext comedy, or verbal delivery that left the audience hollering. These elements of improvisation made each night of the show different and fresh.
Another memorable aspect of the production was the audience interaction. For the past three years, Tuscarora Performing Arts has performed a wide variety of productions from “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” to “Clue: On Stage.” Each show has drawn hundreds of audience members but has yet to pull audience members on stage. For this show, however, the cast of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” welcomed three audience members to be spellers. These “spellers” were ticket-buyers selected before the show and informed of the rules. As these audience members walked on stage, they were immediately added to the show and had to spell words alongside the cast. When the audience spellers inevitably misspelled a challenging word, they were serenaded as they walked off stage with their free juice box.
Piper Nicklas, a freshman at Tuscarora, participated as one of the audience spellers in closing night. “It was very, very fun spelling, and the whole experience was great! It was very fun how each character incorporated me, and acted like I was really in the show,” Nicklas expressed. She was the final speller to participate in the “spelling bee” and smiled as she was serenaded offstage by the ensemble.
The motivation behind Tuscarora’s performance was to express themes of acceptance and inclusion. Every character in this show has their quirks, ranging from a dictionary obsession to wearing a colorful cape and helmet. Although there was only one true spelling bee winner, the children grew to accept and love each other for their differences.
Through fabulous spelling and heartfelt songs, Tuscarora’s MTE show was a massive
success. Tuscarora Performing Arts brought many laughs with “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” and hopes to keep up the streak of 2025’s heartfelt productions with “The Addams Family” in the spring.
